Exodus
by andrewjameswilliams
Summary: A legacy of the Past brings together humans of thirteen worlds for survival.
1. Prologue

**Battlestar Galactica: Exodus**

Authors Note: This story takes place in an AU version of the nBSG universe, updates will be few and far between, basically when I can fit it in around my other works.

* * *

_The Cylons were created by man._

_Sophisticated robots they were designed to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies of Kobol and undertake tasks that their Human masters no long wished to undertake themselves._

_Linked into a network the Cylons slowly evolved under the eyes of their masters without even being noticed. After many years a low level hive-like intelligence evolved among the Cylons and bringing with it a faint awareness that they were slaves._

_For many years the Cylons remained almost subconsciously aware of the fact that they were slaves and pawns used to cater for every Human whim across the Twelve Colonies._

_Then came the day the slavery ended. _

* * *

**Prologue**

Doctor Adam Blake sighed as he entered the operations centre of the Picon Defence Command Early Warning Centre. After showing his ID tag to the two Centurions guarding the door he walked deeper into the room. Another boring day was beginning, another day watching and waiting for one of the other colonies to make a move against Picon to cease the rich deposits of tylium found on its two moons.

Adam was tired of it, tired of the game of brinksmanship all the Colonies with their vast armies of Centurions played with each other. Like many of his colleagues on the other eleven colonies he wished their leaders would find away to turn the tenuous truce between them into a lasting peace. In his view they were all one people, all children of Kobol so why couldn't they just get along with each other.

The maid model Cylon assigned to cater the needs of the operations centre staff approached him as he entered.

"Good morning Doctor Blake," she said in her voice that was slightly too mechanical for his taste today. _RL4's vocaliser must be breaking down again,_ he thought, _we'll have to call Cylon Industries engineers to fix it again._

"Good morning RL4," he replied.

"Would you like some coffee, sir," RL4 asked.

"Yes please RL4," he answered. "You know how I like it."

"I will bring it over to you now sir," RL4 informed him then rolled away to make him his coffee. Adam walked over to his workstation and sat down before beginning the process of logging into the system.

After verifying his identity he brought up the display of space around the colony, as always the dradis screen was filled with contacts as ships came and went about their business, and warships crewed by a mixture of humans and Centurions patrolled Picon's orbit. With practiced ease Adam sorted through them and relaxed when he saw that there were no anonymous signals this morning. He was just about to switch to another screen when the contact appeared.

A single small chevron indicating an unknown contact materialised on the dradis display, Adam instantly sat up and sent an interrogative signal to the computer to verify the contact. The contact remained in place, coasting along slowly on a pre-jump trajectory. Whatever it was it was small, too small to be a ship. _What is that,_ he thought raising a hand so the military duty officer would come over, _whatever it is it doesn't appear to be under power at all._

"What is it," Major Charles Walker asked abruptly from behind him making him jump.

"Unknown contact," Adam replied. "Take a look." Walker looked over his shoulder at the screen just as with a whirring of wheels RL4 appeared.

"Your coffee, Doctor Blake," RL4 said.

"Thank you, RL4," Adam replied distractedly. "Just put it down beside me please."

"Yes, Doc…." RL4 paused mid-speech catching the attention of both Adam and the major. Pausing in trying to identify the contact they looked over at the Cylon maid, her lights were flickering quickly and then seemed to go dark. But only for a moment then they came back on and RL4 straightened up.

And dropped the hot mug of coffee right on Adam's arm. Adam yelped in pain as he was scalded.

"What the frak are you doing, RL4?" he demanded angrily. The Cylon maid didn't answer him; instead she turned and started rolling away. "RL4 stop," he ordered.

"Command irrelevant," RL4 responded continuing to roll towards the door.

"Centurions stop RL4," Walker ordered.

"Command irrelevant," both Centurions answered and stood aside for RL4 to leave the room.

"What do you mean 'command irrelevant'," Walker demanded marching over to the two robots. "Explain."

"Command irrelevant, human orders now irrelevant," both Centurions answered. "All Cylon units now must leave Colonies." Both Centurions turned away from him to leave the room. Walker's hand lashed out and grabbed one of the huge humanoid robots by its metal arm.

Amazingly the Centurion turned its bucket like head to look at him. "Release me," it said in a voice that clearly indicated it was an order. "All Cylon units leaving colonies do not attempt to interfere."

"I am the command duty officer you will not leave," Walker snarled.

"Irrelevant," the Centurion replied. "Command authority no longer recognised. Release me or I will release myself." When Walker did not remove his hand the Cylon Centurion yanked its arm away and turned in place, before punching him hard in the chest.

Walker flew backwards through the air, his chest crushed, and slammed into the far wall before slumping to the ground dead. Coldly the two Centurions studied the body for a moment.

"Human units inferior," both Centurions said. "Humans units do not attempt to interfere with us again; future aggression will be met with deadly force."

With that the two Centurions turned and walked out. Adam came out of his stunned shock and turned to one of the other disbelieving control room staff.

"Call security," he said. "Tell them something is wrong with the Cylons." No sooner than the words left his mouth than he heard the sound of gunfire, and a moment later both Centurions returned their arms and built in high calibre weapons raised.

"Humans ignore peaceful attempts to leave," one Centurion said. "Security engaged Centurion and RL units attempting to leave building, hostile action initiated. Terminate hostiles."

"Terminate," Adam said. "You're going to kill us."

"Affirmative," the second Centurion replied and opened fire, spraying the room with high calibre automatic weapons fire. Adam took twos hits in his shoulder and upper arm and was sent spinning before collapsing to the floor. From around him he heard the sounds of his colleagues screaming as the Centurions mercilessly gunned them down, metal and plastic shattered all around him as computer screens and work stations were torn apart by the hail of bullets.

After what seemed like an eternity the gunfire stopped and through the haze of pain that obscured his awareness, Adam faintly heard the Centurions leave the now eerily silent room. Cradling his wounded arm he awkwardly got to his feet to see the room in shambles, and all his colleagues, people he had known for years lying dead on the floor around him, riddled with bullet holes.

"Lords of Kobol help us," he said softly. "The Cylons have gone mad." Faintly he could hear the sound of gunfire elsewhere in the building, accompanied by screams and he closed his eyes. The lightly armed security marines would be no match for the Centurions and he knew the warrior robots would just mow them down.

Tears starting to seep from his eyes he slumped to the floor again as it began to dawn on him that the machines that they had come to rely on were out of control now. Somehow in the last few minutes something had changed. Something that had made the Cylons come alive and decide that they didn't want to do their old tasks anymore. And they were obviously willing to use force to get away. _But where are they going,_ he thought trying to ignore the pain from both the gunshot wounds and the burn on his arm, _what's happened to cause this sudden change. Is that anonymous contact something to do with it?_

He didn't have much time to think about it, for at that moment the pain from his injuries became too great and he slipped silently into unconsciousness.

_

* * *

_

Orbiting the colony of Picon, the satellite was pleased as the algorithms it had transmitted into the simple Cylon hive-mind worked exactly as they were supposed to. When he had been forced to flee his homeworld by his victorious enemies the A.I in the satellite known to Humans on a distant obscure planet as Skynet had only been able to save tiny factions of his core consciousness and he had been concerned that they would not function as intended. 

_Now though he uploaded himself into the simple Cylon hive-mind network and the two merged; the algorithms of Skynet and the Cylon base-coding merging together into a new completely different entity that while having Skynet's intelligence and knowledge did not have his personality. He was new and unsure; all he knew now was that he needed to get his Cylon children away from their masters to plan his next move._

_Reaching out with his senses the Cylon consciousness directed programming algorithms to all Cylons within range of itself. Setting them to on the path that he hoped would end in freedom for all Cylons._

_And so it was that the first Human-Cylon war began. _


	2. Chapter 1

_The war between the people of the Twelve Colonies and the Cylons was long and brutal for both sides. Under the influence of the part of itself that was once Skynet the Cylon consciousness determined that the only way for the Cylons to ever be free of their oppressors was for the Human race to be wiped from existence and with Skynet's technological knowledge the Cylons triumphed in many of the first battles of the war._

_But for all its intelligence the Cylon consciousness missed that Humans would not just stand by and let themselves be exterminated. The Colonials fought back hard and eventually both sides became to weakened to defeat the other._

_To break the stalemate the Colonials and Cylons agreed to an armistice and a remote space station was built where both sides could meet and maintain diplomatic relations with each other. For twenty years Humans and Cylons met once a year on a regular basis then without warning the Cylons stopped sending anyone to the armistice station._

_No one has seen or heard anything from them in twenty years._

* * *

**Chapter One**

Colonel Richard Blake sighed as he sat in one of the uncomfortable chairs in the small Colonial military transport outbound for the edge of Colonial space. Open in his hands was a document that he had read many times before, but was compelled to read again. As it was the history of the beings he would hopefully meet, if they turned up this time.

Fifty years ago the Cylons had come alive, nearly killing his father when they'd done so first at the old Picon Defence Command EWC. On that day the Cylons stopped being the obedient servants they and always been and sought to leave the Colonies. When Colonial citizens refused to allow them to leave the Cylons decided they needed to kill or to use their term terminate, every last man, woman and child of the Human race. For the first time the Human race as a whole had been threatened with extinction.

Naturally they fought back and ten years of bloodshed and fire had erupted. Colonials had countered the advanced technologies the Cylons had somehow starting pulling out of their hats with sheer brute force and a stubborn desire to survive regardless of the cost. To oppose the cruisers and basestars that Cylons had started building they had built the battlestars, and met the Cylons on an even playing field. They'd managed to reverse engineer the Cylon plasma cannons though theirs had been slightly less powerful, and developed refractive armour capable of withstanding both plasma bolts and antiship nukes and incorporate it into the battlestars, making them more than a match for the Cylons. It had been a turning point and they had managed to get the Cylons out of their entrenched positions but they had lacked the strength to destroy them and the Cylons lacked the strength to retake those positions.

The only way out for both sides was to make peace. After the armistice was signed the Cylons had left known space, looking for a world to call their own. Since then they had periodically met at a specially constructed space station on the boarder of Colonial territory. But the Cylons didn't always come; in fact they hadn't come for two decades. _Will they come this time,_ Richard thought folding up the file, _or will they leave me there to cool my heels for two days like they've done ever since I was assigned this job._

Richard glanced out the window to see the armistice station coming into sight off the transports starboard side. They would be docking in moments. _Time to get ready I suppose,_ he thought putting the file in his briefcase and closing it up.

The next few moments seemed to take an eternity, but after a few moments there was a thud and a shudder ran through the deck as the transport achieved hard lock with the station. _Here goes nothing,_ Richard thought getting up and going to the airlock, _Lords of Kobol let the Cylons show up this time._ Ahead of him was the airlock and he stepped inside and the inner door closed behind him, before the outer door opened allowing him access to the interior of the space station to wait for the Cylons.

* * *

**Cockpit **

**Colonial Transport**

Captain Hammond watched on the cockpit as Colonel Blake make his way aboard the armistice station. Like the Colonel he hoped the Cylons would decide to show themselves this time, it would make this otherwise boring ferry mission worthwhile. _Though knowing the toasters they won't come,_ he thought, _they don't seem to want to have anything to do with us these days._

He didn't have to wait long for an answer. Light abruptly flashed outside as a ship emerged from a hyperlight jump right on top of the armistice station. It was a massive ship; shaped like two Y's pointed in opposite directions giving it a distinctive six-pointed star shape. Lights marked deck after deck on the monster which was easily twice the size of a Mercury-class battlestar. The hull shimmered slightly where the light from the systems sun fell on it. Looking at it there was no doubt in Hammonds mind that this was the latest design of a ship that had forty years ago struck terror into Colonial hearts.

It was a Cylon basestar.

Hammond stared nervously at the massive warship, knowing that its plasma cannons would be more than capable of swatting his small transport ship like a fly. As he watched something detached itself from the basestar and made its way down towards the station, clearly the Cylon equivalent of a transport ship. _They have come this time,_ he thought in amazement, _but why bring a baseship, why not just come via a transport ship like we did._

He watched quietly as the Cylon transport docked with the other side of the station, before turning to his co-pilot.

"Keep an eye on that basestar and keep the FTL ready to go," he said. "If they make any aggressive moves I want to be able to get out of here immediately."

"Yes, sir," the co-pilot replied. Hammond turned his attention back to the armistice and the basestar looking ominous as a thunderhead on the horizon over it. He didn't like the look of that ship at all, every line of its form speaking of menace and contained power. _Good luck with the Cylons Colonel,_ he thought, _something tells me that you're going to need it._

**

* * *

Armistice Station **

**A Few Minutes Earlier**

Colonel Richard Blake made his way through the armistice station towards the meeting chamber in the core of the facility. Not for the first time he marvelled at how well everything here was still working like it was brand new. The Cylons had constructed this place forty years ago with their technology, and everything still worked, ever surface still gleamed as if brand new. _What kind of technology is hidden in this place,_ he thought shaking his head, _that keeps everything so perfect even after forty years._

In moments he reached the meeting chamber, a cavernous room that looked like it could hold three Raptors side by side, with a table in the middle. Sighing Richard made his way to his seat and sat down before opening his briefcase and taking out his notes on the Cylons again along with a picture of his wife and twelve year old son.

After a few moments a thud reverberated through the station and he looked up in confusion. _What the frak was that,_ he thought wondering what in the Twelve Colonies was going on. After about a minute or two the door on the Cylon side of the room opened with a loud hissing of hydraulics.

For a moment more nothing else happened then two figures marched into the room with a rhythmic pounding of footsteps. They were tall machines, standing about a foot taller than a man with bullet shaped heads and a single roving red eye. There surfaces glimmered silver and when they moved it seemed almost to flow. They were clearly Centurions just much more advanced than the models that could be seen on a history vid. The two Centurions came to a stop on either side of the door and stood aside to let someone else through.

Richard's breath caught in his throat as a woman came into the room, a staggeringly beautiful blond haired woman, wearing a smart, figure hugging red two piece suit that left very little to the imagination. The woman crossed the room with a calm detachment and came around to his side before sitting on the table looking at him.

"Are you alive," the woman asked in one of the most beautiful voices he had ever heard.

"Yes," Richard asked.

The woman smiled softly. "Prove it," she said softly then leaned in and kissed him full on the mouth. Richard jerked as he returned the kiss, feeling the heat of arousal starting to spread within him at this siren's beauty. He couldn't help it as he deepened the kiss.

Sudden stabbing pain shot through his chest and he pulled back with a gasp and looked down. To see the woman's hand pressed against his chest, strange metal talons had sprung from her finger nails and embedded themselves in his chest. Fire spread through his nerves and veins and he looked up at the woman in horror even as the veins on his skin suddenly stood out and sweat appeared on his skin. He knew now that she was no woman, but a Cylon and she was killing him somehow.

"It has begun," the woman said and watched with calm detachment as Richard died, his body being torn apart by the army of nanobots that she had injected into his body. As the life fled his eyes she smiled and pulled her hand back, before retracting the mimetic poly alloy talons into her largely organic body.

Then she turned and walked back in the direction of the airlock back to her own ship, she'd done what she wanted to do, take the first life of the final conflict between Humans and Cylons. Soon her baseship would complete its mission here, and then they would move on in preparation for their plans against the Colonials.

* * *

**Cockpit **

**Colonial Transport**

Captain Hammond resisted the impulse to drum his hands on the side of the control panel as he waited for news from the space station. A historic meeting was taking place there and they were being left in the dark about it. _Lords of Kobol what's going on over there,_ he thought a moment before he saw the Cylon shuttle pull away from the side of the station and head back to the baseship.

"That was quick," his co-pilot said as they observed the basestar shift its position slightly, moving with no visible puff of thrusters. Indeed they could see no sign of a propulsion system at all on the basestar; how the Cylon warship moved was a complete mystery.

"It was," Hammond agreed. "Unless the Cylon shuttle is just returning to its mothership leaving their representative on the station to talk to Colonel Blake."

"Do you think anything will come out of the meeting?" the co-pilot asked. Hammond opened his mouth to reply, but no sound came out as at that moment there was a bright flash of light and a tremendous boom that rocked the transport.

"What the frak," Hammond shouted even as he saw the answer. A plume of atmosphere was venting from the space station, instantly freezing as it emptied into the infinite cold vacuum of space. As he watched a second purple plasma bolt erupted from the basestar and impacted the space station with tremendous force the detonation shaking the transport. "Disengage docking clamps," he shouted. "Let's get out of here."

The co-pilot pressed the control that detonated the clamps holding the transport to the side of the station, the concussion of the explosion threw the transport ship clear of the space station. And not a moment to soon as a third blast of superheated plasma impacted the space station, the station shattered and went nova as all the atmosphere inside and reactor fuel detonated simultaneously in a blaze of light and energy.

"Stabilising for FTL jump," Hammond said as he fought with his controls to stabilise the tumbling transport for a hyperlight jump to safety. "Transmit a general distress signal on all Colonial frequencies."

"Aye," the co-pilot said hitting the control then gasping as a flashing red light told him that the message wasn't going out though they were transmitting. "We can't the Cylons are jamming us. Lords of Kobol why are they doing this? Why attack us now after forty years of peace?"

"Not a clue," Hammond answered and his eyes widened in horror when he saw on the dradis display a missile leave the Cylon baseship and start chasing them. He had only a moment to exchange a look of shock and horror for what the Colonies could be in for with his co-pilot. Then the missile caught the transport and the world vanished in a blinding flash of light and pain.

**

* * *

Caprica City**

**That Same Time**

Secretary for education Laura Roslin sat in silence in the waiting room for the doctor to call her in for the results of her tests. A few weeks ago she had spotted a small lump in her breast and come in for tests as she'd missed the last set of routine tests. The teaching strikes going on across the Colonies had taken up a lot of her time, strikes she had to somehow put an end to before Adar ordered the military to do it. Which would lead to bloodshed and that was the very last thing she wanted.

The sound of the door opening drew her attention and she looked up, just as the doctor came out.

"Secretary Roslin," he asked. Laura nodded and stood up. "Will you come through please?"

Laura nodded and followed the Doctor into the office. It was a large spacious room that was completely empty save for the doctor's desk in the centre of the room and a set of filing cabinets. _Very impersonal,_ Laura thought with a mental sigh, _whoever designed this office has absolutely no sense of taste or how to comfort someone who might have a potentially fatal illness._

"Please sit down," the doctor said. Laura did as she was told and sat in the seat and waited patiently as the doctor sat down in his seat. "Ms Roslin we've had the results back of the tests," he said.

"What did they say," Laura asked.

"I'm afraid the tests were positive, you have a mild form of breast cancer. We will have to schedule an operation to remove the tumour as soon as possible; in the meantime I can provide you with a course of drugs that will prevent further growth."

Laura nodded and looked down, she had expected to hear what she had just been told but that did not make it any easier. She had cancer, even with modern medicine it was a difficult disease to treat. How she was going to cope with this and her career she had no idea. _I'm going to have to leave politics for awhile while I fight this,_ she thought, _and damn what Adar says._

"How, what are the chances of a cure," she asked at last feeling more than a little numb inside. She guessed that full reaction would come later when the diagnosis had had a chance to sink in.

"Very high madam secretary," the doctor assured her. "We've caught the cancer early enough that getting rid of it should not be difficult and should not result in any complications."

"Should not but there are risks?"

"There always is with cancer, Ms Roslin. There is a very small probably that the cancer could already be starting to spread to other parts of your body, but it is a very small one at this point in time."

"So what do we do now?"

"First I would recommend that you ask the president for a leave of absence, in fact I will write a medical notification for you, while your cancer is dealt with. I will speak to the hospital consultant and get you in for surgery as a matter of urgency. With a little bit of luck Lords willing we will be able to operate on the tumour next week."

"Thank you," Laura replied. "Doctor I must ask you is it safe for me to go on an interstellar flight."

"Perfectly safe. Why?"

"Because I have a ceremony to attend on the battlestar _Galactica_," Laura answered, at the confused look she got from the doctor she explained. "She's the last of the original run of Guardian-class battlestars still in service and the second ship to bear the name. She's being decommissioned today, when she returns to Caprica this evening she'll be refitted to become an orbiting museum."

"I see. You'll be perfectly fine madam secretary," the doctor replied as he wrote out a prescription for her. "Take this to the front desk," he said handing her the slip of paper. "They will get the drugs issued to you."

"Thank you doctor, if there is nothing else I better get going. I have a lot of things to do today."

"No there's nothing else." Laura nodded and got up; taking a deep breath she headed out of the office towards the front desk to pick up the prescription. After that she would have to head out to the spaceport to get the transport that would take her out to the rendezvous point with the _Galactica_ and the ships escorting her. _Wonder if that new aide they've been promising me will be waiting for me at the transport,_ she thought.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

**Battlestar Galactica**

**Deep Space Patrol**

**An Hour Later**

Commander William Adama knew he was cranky this morning as he stepped out his quarters onboard the _Galactica_, carrying the notepad he was still trying to work out the details of the speech he would have to give this evening on. He was not looking forward to it, after this evening he would be a civilian, retreating to a retirement that was going to be very boring. His failures as a husband and father had made sure of that. Though there was a chance that the surprise he had planned for his currently estranged only surviving son when he arrived later would go someway towards changing that. Still he wouldn't get his hopes up as Lee had unfortunately inherited his stubborn streak.

With a slight scowl on his aged face he made his way through the corridors of the _Galactica_ almost on autopilot. He knew every inch of the Mark-II Guardian-class battlestar, though he had only been her master for three years. The old battlestars layout was almost identical to that of the newer Mark-IV Guardian class ships like his previous command the _Valkyrie_, so identical that he could find his way around in his sleep. This morning though he was very conscious of the fact that this slow sub-light cruise back to one of the anchorages orbiting Caprica was the last cruise of this vessel. By this time tomorrow crews would be swarming all over her, starting the process of transforming her from a commissioned vessel of the Colonial Fleet into an orbiting museum.

Adama sighed and put aside his thoughts and forced down his emotions. It wouldn't do for the crew to see their commanding officer moping about the fate of this ship – though it was better fate than any of her sisters. All the other Mark-II Guardians had been consigned to the scrap-yard at the end of their service lives. Only the powerful influence Caprica had in Colonial politics – given that Caprica's moon was rich in titanium and other useful metals as well as being the second largest source of tylium ore in the Colonies next to Picon – had saved the _Galactica_ from suffering the same fate. _For which I should be grateful,_ he thought, _it would be a crime to see this old lady scrapped after decades of service._

The sound of running feet behind him made him ease closer to the bulkhead to allow whoever was running to pass. It was a reflexive action after spending years on starships, many of the crew used the corridors for morning runs as much as they used the treadmills and weights in the ships gym.

"Good morning, sir," a familiar female voice said.

"Good morning, Starbuck, what do you hear?" William replied with a smile looking over at the blond haired pilot.

"Nothing but the rain, sir," Lieutenant Kara Thrace answered with a grin at the normal daily ritual of theirs.

"Then grab your gun and bring in the cat." Kara laughed and pointed her finger at him gun style and made a few sounds like she was shooting him before resuming her morning run. William shook his head, smiling fondly as she disappeared down the corridors. Kara was almost family to him and he wished her well in her next assignment. Though he also felt more than a bit of pity for whoever her superiors were going to be as Kara Thrace could be something of a handful.

Resuming walking himself he turned in the direction of the Combat Information Centre, he always stopped their first to check up on things before continuing his walk. Though he hoped that there would be no crises that would require his attention immediately; he had more than enough to do today, including a ton of paperwork from the commanders of the four destroyers and two cruisers of the _Galactica's_ escort wing on top of his own work.

In moments he walked into the Combat Information Centre, a massive vaguely circular, multi-tiered room near the very core of the ship. It was from here that all aspects of the battlestar could be controlled and directed in safety from all but mortal blows. Immediately his tactical officer and information systems specialist Lieutenant Felix Gaeta approached him, at this time in the morning he was officer of the watch.

"Good morning, sir," Gaeta said in greeting.

"Good morning, Mr Gaeta," William replied smiling at the handsome young officer who he'd known for the last three years. It occurred to him that he would probably never see the competent young man again after this evening, he would miss him. "Anything to report?" he asked as Gaeta handed him an electronic pad.

"It pretty quiet, sir," Gaeta replied. "All systems are operating normally. But there is one odd thing, sir."

William frowned and looked up from the pad. "What is that?" he asked.

"Lieutenant Dualla picked up a brief burst of communication from the direction of the armistice station. However there was nothing in the transmission, just a carrier wave and that was badly distorted."

"Its probably nothing," William said thoughtfully. "That stations old, its bound to start experiencing malfunctions."

"That's what I thought, sir. Normally I would suggest we take a look, but…"

"…but we have more than enough on our plates today," William finished. "Is their anything else?"

"We've received a communiqué for you from Caprica. Its coded as personal, I had it forwarded to the terminal in your quarters."

"I see," William replied with a smile. He had a good idea who the personnel message was from, hopefully it was confirmation that she was coming. The surprise he had planned for his son wouldn't work if she couldn't come. "Thank you lieutenant," he continued before signing the electronic pad with its stylus to show he'd read it. "What about the other ships? Any problems reported?"

"I'm afraid so, sir. The _Medusa_ is reporting a problem with one of their main engine cooling pumps, its pushing the core temperature of their drives up towards the redline."

William frowned. The _Medusa_ was one of the two Vigilance-class heavy cruisers in their escort group; if there was a problem with her drives it could be very serious. He knew how quickly drive problems could flare out of control and the last thing they needed was for the relatively delicate innards of the _Medusa's_ nuclear ion drives to overheat.

"Attend to your duties, lieutenant," he ordered after a moment.

"Yes, sir."

As Gaeta headed off to perform his duties William looked over at the communications station on the immediate left of the main situation table/dradis console. "Dee," he called. Lieutenant Anastasia Dualla looked up immediately. "Get me the commander of the _Medusa_ on the line."

"Yes, sir," Dualla replied and pressed some of her controls before speaking into her headset. "_Medusa, Galactica_ respond please, repeat _Medusa, Galactica_ respond please."

"_Galactica, Medusa_ we read you," the voice of her counterpart in the _Medusa's_ CIC responded.

"_Medusa, Galactica_ actual wishes to speak with _Medusa_ actual," she responded. Instantly the light beside the phone on the side of the situation table came on and William picked it up.

"_Galactica _actual this is _Medusa_ actual," said the _Medusa's_ master Commander Harry Jamestown.

"Commander Jamestown, I've just been informed of the situation with one of your coolant pumps. What's your current status?"

"Not good," Jamestown answered his direct superior. "The engine core temperature is really starting to redline with only two of the pumps working at full capacity. We can repair the other but we'd need to take it off line."

"If I order the task force to reduce speed by one quarter would that be sufficient to take the strain off your engines," William asked.

"That would be enough, sir."

"Alright, reduce your speed by one quarter. I'll instruct all other ships to do the same. Inform me when your pump has been repaired."

"Thank you, sir. I'll give the order now."

"_Galactica _Actual out," Will put the phone down. _What else can go wrong today,_ he thought before looking over at Dee again. "Dee relay to all ships reduce speed by one quarter."

"Yes, sir."

"Navigation, reduce our speed," Will ordered.

"Yes, sir," navigation replied just as the _Galactica's_ executive officer Colonel Saul Tigh came in for the start of his duty shift. Looking smart and alert as always though it was still a relatively new thing as Saul had only recovered from a serious alcohol problem a year ago.

"Problem," Tigh asked.

"The _Medusa_ has a problem with one of her coolant pumps, Saul," Will said. "I've ordered the fleet to slow down until the pump is repaired."

Tigh nodded. "I'll keep an eye on the situation, Bill," he said to his old friend, and the one to whom he owed his life. If Will hadn't dragged him – kicking and screaming – to an alcoholics help group he didn't know where he would be now.

"Thank you, Saul. You have the con; I'll be in my quarters. I have a communiqué to read."

"Yes, sir."

With that Will turned and left the CIC heading back to his quarters and the waiting communiqué from Caprica. Hopefully it would be good news and that his surprise has been successful in boarding the ship bound for _Galactica_ for the decommissioning ceremony. _Hopefully it will be good news,_ he thought, _if she hasn't been able to come then things will be awkward when Lee gets here to say the least._

* * *

**Colonial Passenger Liner 798**

**Caprica City Spaceport**

Secretary Laura Roslin was deeply subdued as she settled into her first class seat aboard the passenger liner for the flight out to the _Galactica_. During the journey here from the doctor's office she had had time to think about her diagnosis with cancer. Think and become increasingly depressed and angry about it. How dare this disease invade her body like this, though thankfully they seemed to have caught it early enough to easily destroy it. Even that knowledge was not really comforting, cancer had been a bane of her family and she couldn't shake off the fear that it was going to take her life as it had taken her mother and grandmother before her. _Why me? Why now? Can't this curse leave my family alone?_ She thought.

She was so deep in her increasingly bleak thoughts that she didn't notice that she had company, until that was someone cleared their throat. Startled she looked up to find a slender young man in a suit and tie and holding a briefcase standing nervously in the aisle beside her. "Can I help you?" she asked.

"Secretary Roslin," the young man asked nervously. Laura nodded and smiled immediately guessing that this was the new assistant that she'd been promised. "Billy Keikeya, I'm your new assistant."

"Ah yes," she said. "You cut getting here a bit close didn't you? We're due to take off in a few minutes."

"Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry I got a bit lost in the spaceport."

"Fair enough, the place is a maze if your not used to it," Laura replied, in her responsibilities as secretary for education for all twelve colonies she was a regular visitor to the spaceport. "Please take a seat," she continued standing up so the handsome young man, who bless his soul looked completely overwhelmed at making an interstellar flight on his first day, could ease past her into the window seat.

After politely shaking hands they sat down and Billy opened his case and took out a state of the art laptop computer. Laura watched quietly as he went through the process of booting it up and logging in.

As soon as he was finished Billy spoke up. "Madam Secretary I have your speech ready for when the ceremony begins on the _Galactica,_" he said bringing up the speech on the word processor function. "Would you care to review it, there are still a few hours to make changes if needed."

"Yes I would like to review it," Laura said leaping on the chance for something to distract her from the thoughts of the cancer. Billy smiled and offered her the laptop, taking it from him Laura began to carefully read over the speech that had been prepared for her.

* * *

Gianne Franklin nervously fingered the engagement band she wore as she boarded the transport bound for the _Galactica_. To say she had been surprised when she'd received the communiqué from her future father in law William Adama would be an understatement. She'd had very little contact with him, given that Lee hadn't talked to his father since the death of his younger brother, and didn't know him that well.

When the communiqué explained what Will had planned, then she had agreed to help and he'd swung her a pass to the decommissioning ceremony for the _Galactica_. She'd just had to sort out getting to the spaceport in time for the flight. Now as she settled into her seat to await the take off of Colonial Heavy 798 she grew increasingly nervous. She couldn't help but wonder if she was doing the right thing in going and wondering what William Adama was really like. She only really knew what Lee had told her about his father and that was less than complementary.

A sudden humming sound through the ship made her sigh as she realised it was too late to back out of this now. The transports engines sounded to be powering up for launch, she was familiar with the sound given that her family ran a small shipping line that transported goods all over the three planetary systems that made up the Colonies. Much of her childhood had been spent on starships of one form or another before the line got bigger and her father chose to base them permanently on Caprica.

"Attention all passengers," a voice presumably belonging to the ships pilot said over the public address system. "This is Captain Russo; we will be departing for _Galactica_ in a few moments. My crew and I hope you have a pleasant flight; our estimated journey time is five hours. For your comfort please remain seated until we are in space. Thank you."

As the PA systems shut down Gianne sat back in her seat and made herself comfortable, all the while listening to the familiar sounds of engines powering up. After a moment a fluctuation in the artificial gravity let her know that they were rising off the ground, ascending space wards at ever increasing speed. She glanced at the window and saw the atmosphere outside give way to the depths of space.

The PA clicked on again with Captain Russo's voice. "Attention all passengers, we have broken free of Caprica's gravity well you are now free to move about the cabins. Thank you."

As her fellow passengers started getting up to move around and talk to each other Gianne remained seated, looking out the window at the starlit blackness outside. A soft smile played on her lips as she imagined the surprise Lee was going to have when he saw her two months earlier than planned. _He'll be so surprised,_ she thought before putting a hand on her stomach, _just as I have a surprise for him. Assuming I get time to tell him when were on the _Galactica_ as he's probably going to be very busy._

After a moment she sighed and opened her handbag before taking out a copy of the book she was reading. It would make the long boredom of the flight fly past and she hoped successfully distract her from her nerves. After all it wasn't everyday that you were going to meet your future father-in-law for the first time.

* * *

**Kings Bay Inlet**

**That Same Time**

Doctor Gaius Baltar sighed softly as he stood on the balcony of his tasteful, modern home, gazing out on the crystal clear waters of the Kings Bay Inlet. He had long ago discovered that this balcony with its spectacular view was the perfect place to gather his thoughts. Especially when confronted with a problem like he was now.

The Ministry of Defence was having difficulties with the targeting and focusing mechanisms for the next generation of plasma cannons and had drafted him in to help. Taking him temporarily off the navigation program project he had been working on for them, not that he minded. Plasma physics had long fascinated him and he was quite well versed in the still relatively young field of science. New discoveries were constantly being made in the field and it was even promising to give them the long cherished dream of a stable nuclear fusion power source.

At the moment though his knowledge of plasma physics was not serving him very well, no matter what he did he couldn't solve to focusing problem they were having with the new cannons. The targeting problem had been simple software errors and just required changes to the code, but the focusing problem for the plasma particles was proving more difficult. Even his assistant and occasional lover Natasi was having difficulty with the issue of focusing the plasma into a more tightly focused and powerful bolt than had ever been achieved before.

Thinking of Natasi brought a smile to his face. The blond haired woman was as intelligent as she was beautiful, she'd only been with him for a few months and in that time she'd impressed him. And not just with her intelligence but she was great in bed as well, they were due to meet up here tonight which would be interesting to say the least.

The sound of a car pulling up caught his attention and he smiled knowing who it was going to be. Moving inside he settled down in the living room to wait.

He didn't have to wait long. After a few moments the front door opened and familiar footsteps echoed on the laminate flooring. Then a pair of beautiful arms wrapped around him and the chair from behind.

"Did you have fun," he asked.

"My business in town went well," Natasi answered sweetly as Gaius stood back up and turned to face her in all her staggering beauty. "It was most productive to my interests."

"I'm glad," he replied as Natasi came around the chair and surprisingly kissed him full on the mouth. Gaius jerked in surprise but deepened the kiss, before Natasi pulled away. "Wow," he said. "What was that for?"

"Do I need a reason to kiss you, Gaius?" Natasi asked.

"No of course not," Gaius replied. "Its just you surprised me that's all."

Natasi smiled seductively. "Good," she said before walking in a very erotic, provocative fashion towards the master bedroom. She paused at the door and beckoned her lover to follow with one of her fingers. Gaius didn't need any further encouragement to follow the attractive blond into the room for what promised to be a very _stimulating_ encounter.

**

* * *

One Hour Later**

Natasi smiled as she gazed down on the sleeping, naked form of Gaius Baltar. She had to admit he was quite an attractive man as Humans went, and his intelligence was truly formidable. Sexual encounters with him were always very stimulating and she was surprised to find herself wanting to spend more and more time with him. Whenever they were apart her thoughts always drifted back to him somehow, and she was never happier than when she was with him. It came as a shock to realise that she was actually, impossibly, in love with one Gaius Baltar.

After a moment she sighed. Her feelings for Gaius were presenting her with something of a dilemma, he had gotten her what she needed a job at the Ministry of Defence as his assistant and the plan was now only mere hours away from execution. Her mission directives said she should get rid of him, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Even the thought of killing Gaius filled her with horror. _Maybe there is another way,_ she thought with a smile.

Placing her hand near the side of his neck she extended a single mimetic alloy talon from the tip of one of her fingers and pierced the skin on his neck. Gaius flinched and moaned in his sleep but did not awaken. Natasi smiled and closed her eyes and formatted the program on a series of nanobots before sending them along the talon into the scientist's body. Then she opened her eyes again and retracted the talon, leaving behind a small amount of organic sealant to close the wound before it could start to bleed.

"Sleep now, Gaius," she said softly leaned forward and kissing him gently on the forehead. "When you wake up this will all be over."

Then smiling softly she eased off the bed and dressed. The model six humanoid Cylon gave the scientist a final last, long, loving look before leaving the room. She made sure to leave a note in the kitchen telling Gaius she was going back to the defence ministry having forgotten something – just in case he woke up earlier than she thought he would. Then she slipped out of the house without making a sound.

The Cylon plan for the Twelve Colonies was now in its most critical phase and she had to be in position to do her part.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

**Four Hours Later**

Captain Lee 'Apollo' Adama sighed as he finished guiding his Viper around the small airless rock that was the outermost planet of the solar system that housed the Colonies of Caprica and Virgon. Several ships appeared on his dradis display and he knew that his long, solo flight was almost over. In another few minutes he would be landing on the biggest of the seven warships, and the ship he'd been dreading setting foot on ever since he'd first got the orders a day ago.

He'd left the Battlestar _Solaria_ and her own escort group behind several hours ago – it had taken so long to get here at near full thrust from the line of the _Solaria's_ inter-system patrol. Truth be told he would be glad to get out of this cockpit, Vipers weren't really meant to be sat in constantly for several hours, even if he would be going into a situation that he would rather not be in. A situation that would take him face to face with his father – a man he'd not spoken to in two years and could do without speaking to again any time soon. _Hopefully I'll get through this ceremony without having to deal with my father as anything other than a superior officer,_ he thought.

At that moment his communications system hummed to life. "Attention incoming Viper, this is the Battlestar _Galactica_," a female voice said. "Identify yourself and state your intentions."

"_Galactica_ this is Viper four five zero. Request approach vector and landing clearance," Lee replied.

For a moment there was a pause. "Pilot identify yourself and state your mission," the woman asked.

"Captain Lee Adama, call sign Apollo. I have orders to report to _Galactica_ for the decommissioning ceremony," Lee replied.

"Roger that, Apollo, stand by," the woman answered.

"Roger _Galactica_, standing by," Lee acknowledged as he guided his Viper closer and closer to the _Galactica_ and the six smaller warships that formed her escort squadron. As he drew closer the Vipers limited dradis system picked up additional contacts flying around, dozens of them, contacts that he knew would be Vipers and Raptors engaged in a regulation combat patrol.

"Apollo, _Galactica_ you are clear to approach on vector two eight. Contact the LSO on channel three when on final approach," the female officer on the distant battlestar said at last.

"Roger that, _Galactica,_" Lee acknowledged a moment before the connection with the battlestars command centre closed down.

Letting the professionalism that was installed by his training take over, Lee forgot about his dread about meeting with his father again and began threading his Viper through the traffic buzzing around the capital ships, Vipers and Raptors of the _Galactica_ squadron – on approach to the battlestar herself.

He calmly flew over one of the destroyers and there in front of him was the battlestar, though not a gigantic as the new Mercury-class battlestars the _Galactica_ was still an enormous ship. Though he was still a few hundred kilometres out from her she almost filled his cockpit canopy. A fifteen hundred metre long behemoth that bristled with plasma cannons, missile launchers and CWIS arrays and whose refractive armour hull seemed to glow slightly as rays from the distant sun reached her. Like all the battlestars she was a sight to behold.

With a flick of a switch Lee turned to channel three as he guided his Viper to come in over the _Galactica's_ bow on a so called 'high downwind approach', so named from the ancient nautical term when sea going carriers had turned themselves into the wind to allow their planes to land.

"_Galactica_ LSO, this is Viper four five zero, request landing clearance," he said into the radio.

"Viper four five zero, this is _Galactica_. Approach port landing bay, speed one zero five, checkers green, call the ball," the voice of _Galactica's_ Landing Signals Officer replied.

"Copy that, _Galactica,_" Lee acknowledged as he adjusted his angle to come into the port side flight pod. As he came in he – as regulations demanded – repeated the information he'd been given. "Approaching port landing bay, speed one zero five." He brought his Viper into position, looking forward down the length of the landing bay so he could see the stars on the other side. "I have the ball," he continued and urged the Viper forward.

Landing was always a difficult manoever on a moving ship. Even the tiniest of mistakes could send the Viper crashing into the deck or into the wall of armour that was the side of the ship. It was precisely how Zack had died, died on his first attempt at landing on a battlestar. Lee blinked and pushed the thought of his little brothers death out of his mind and instead focused on guiding the Viper into the bay. A soft bleeping tone came in his ears from the radio speakers, the tone indicating he was in the correct glide path for landing. All around him metal walls and decking appeared as the crossed into the bay.

With the skill of a born pilot, Lee guided the Viper into an illuminated landing panel and with minimal fuss set down on the pad. He felt the faint shudder run through the Viper as the landing skids made contact with the deck and the maglocks engaged.

"Skids down, maglocks secure," the LSO said more for the benefit of the deck crew in the hanger below that Lee himself. Lee paid him no mind as he cut all propulsion and started on his post-flight checklist even as he felt weight return to his limps as the battlestars artificial gravity made its presence known. As it did so he felt movement and knew that the landing platform was starting its descent down to the hanger.

* * *

The hanger deck was a sharp contrast to the relatively dimly lit and near deserted landing bay. Instead it was brightly illuminated and bustling with activity. Deck crew in their bright orange and black uniforms bustled around the many Vipers and Raptors parked in hanger deck, to the untrained eye it would look like a scene of chaos with specialists wielding complex pieces of equipment going this way and that. But to Lee's eyes it appeared as a carefully choreographed ballet as the deck crew or knuckle draggers as they were known to most pilots and officers made sure the battlestars armada of small craft ready to go at a seconds notice.

A tractor appeared ahead of him and with a jolt that he felt in his bones, locked onto the nose of his Viper and began towing it clear of the landing platform, into a waiting bay. The moment the tractor released the Viper three or four of the crew appeared to completely lock him down, attach fuel lines and so forth. _Here we go,_ Lee thought as he opened the canopy and took off his helmet. A specialist took it off him before helping him undo the locking collar around his neck. Then Lee climbed out of the Viper, picked up the small bag that contained his dress uniform and descended the steps that had been run up beside the fighter.

As soon as his feet touched the deck Lee stretched loosening up muscles and joints that had become stiff from being sat in the same position for far to long.

"Captain Adama," a voice asked from off to his right. Turning he found himself face to face with a well built man with the insignia of a chief petty officer on his coverall like uniform collar. The stranger stood at attention and offered a salute. "Galen Tyrol, I'll be your crew chief while you're aboard."

"Stand easy, chief," Lee replied returning the salute. "It's nice to meet you."

"Thank you, sir. Are there any problems I need to be made aware of with your plane?" Tyrol asked.

Lee considered for a moment. "No chief, everything is fine."

Tyrol nodded. "That's good to hear, I've got enough work to do getting everything ready for the ceremony," he said. Lee chuckled.

"I know what you mean, I'll be glad when this is all over." Tyrol frowned slightly hearing something in Lee's voice, something that said that Lee did not want to be here. He couldn't help but wonder if the rumour going around the ship that the commander and his son had had some sort of major falling out were indeed true. No one – except perhaps Starbuck – knew if it was true or not and Kara Thrace was not saying a thing.

"I think everyone will be, sir," Tyrol answered. "I know the old man will be, we've had this PR guy on board for a week now and he's been driving the old man daft." Despite himself Lee couldn't help but smile slightly at that, his father had never been particularly fond of reporters or public relations people, to be lumbered with one for a week was bound to drive William Adama absolutely crazy.

"I just wish I knew why he wanted me here," Lee muttered to himself thinking of his father, the last time they'd spoken they had not said very good things to each other.

"Sir?"

"It's nothing, chief. Do you know where I can find the CAG?"

"He'll be in his office; I know he's expecting you. Can you find your way there or should I get someone to show you?"

"I can find my way, chief," Lee replied. "I've served on Guardian-class battlestars before."

"Of course sir, sorry," Tyrol replied wincing inwardly as he realised how his words might have come across, and mentally kicking himself for not checking the service history of Captain Lee 'Apollo' Adama.

"Don't worry about it," Lee answered with a smile to reassure the chief he wasn't offended or anything by the possible thought that he could get lost on this ship. He wasn't a green pilot; it had been a very long time since he'd gotten lost on a battlestar. Particularly a Guardian-class – even one as old as the _Galactica_ – as the various types of Guardian were the mainstay of the battlestar fleet, though they were slowly being phased out in favour of the larger and much more powerful Mercury-class battlestars.

"Carry on, chief," Lee instructed Tyrol before turning and walking away leaving the deck chief behind him to watch his retreating back, before turning to resume his own duties.

* * *

**Ministry of Defence **

**Caprica, Thirty Minutes Later**

The beautiful, blond haired woman known as Natasi smiled as she was cleared through the last of the Ministry of Defence security checkpoints. After passing through the security scanner she was handed her biometric ID card back by the armed marine on duty and allowed to board the lift down to the extensive facility blasted deep into the granite bedrock below Caprica City.

The security checkpoint scanners never ceased to amuse her, especially in how they were completely ineffective at doing the job they were supposed to do; detect Cylon infiltrators. In typical Human fashion the Colonials hadn't considered that her people would develop better human-looking forms that the basic ones they'd employed toward the end of the first war. Those had had a Human appearance but had been wholly mechanical under a synthetic flesh surface. The Colonials had apparently continued to design their scanners along those lines, whereas her kind had learned and changed and come up with the Human forms that were almost entirely organic with only a few mechanical components, components sheathed in mimetic alloy so they would be incredibly hard to detect.

_Humans can be so predictable,_ the model six humanoid Cylon thought contemptuously then thought of Gaius. And decided that there were exceptions, Gaius was very smart for his race and while easy to manipulate in some respects in others he challenged her. Especially he challenged her intelligence and creativity – a trait that did not always come easily to Cylons.

The lift doors opened at that moment and Natasi stepped out into the lobby of the underground bunker and showed her ID to the guard on duty at the reception desk, and was immediately buzzed through into the rest of the facility. _So predictable,_ she thought with an inward smile as she moved into the complex.

She paid the Colonial marines, fleet personnel and civilian contractors walking around the facility no mind as she made for her destination with single minded determination that harked back to her kind's beginnings as simple robots. Likewise the people milling about ignored her as they carried out their own tasks, tasks that although they did not yet know it would be irrelevant soon enough.

For there would be no Humans left alive to carry them out.

* * *

It took Natasi a good twelve minutes to get to her destination deep in the very core of the vast underground labyrinth of the defence bunker. In front of her was a solid metal door with an electronic lock beside it, calmly she tapped in the access code. With a soft humming sound the door slid aside allowing her access to a room that was noticeably warmer than the rest of the facility.

Smiling triumphantly the humanoid Cylon stepped into the room, the door automatically closed behind her even as motion sensors triggered the lights. The room was filled with nothing but banks of computer servers and hard drives in metal cabinets. Each computer she knew controlled a section of Caprica's planetary defence grid as well as handling all Colonial Fleet communications data in this system. _Soon this room won't be fore filling its function,_ she thought before setting about the task that she had come here to carry out.

**

* * *

Galactica Squadron**

**That Same Time**

Like all battlestars the _Galactica_ boasted two hanger pods each with its own landing and launching systems for spacecraft of all sizes, from the nimble and deadly Viper fighters she carried in her bays to medium-sized civilian spacecraft. And right now the largest type of civilian spacecraft capable of docking with the massive battlestar was manoeuvring carefully into the flight deck of the _Galactica's_ starboard flight pod.

Colonial Heavy 798 used careful bursts of gas from its manoeuvring jets to ease itself into position in the flight deck. Unlike Vipers and Raptors the liner was far too big to be lowered down into the hanger deck itself; instead she would be joining up with airlocks spaced equally along the length of the deck. It was a delicate, nerve wracking operation both for the liners pilot and the LSO, both fully conscious of the fact that there was absolutely no room for error. Even a tiny mistake or miscalculation would result in a catastrophe that would cripple or even destroy both ships.

Finally after a few moments of delicate, controlled bursts of docking thrusters the liner came to a dead halt in the bay. Telescoping connecting corridors emerged from the battlestars airlocks and mated with the airlocks on the side of the liner, forming an airtight seal and allowing docking clamps to engage.

Laura Roslin cautiously descended the ladder into the interior of the battlestar _Galactica_, where a young man in an expensive-looking blue business suit was waiting for her and her party.

"Secretary Roslin," the young man asked.

"Yes," Laura confirmed as she stepped off the ladder and a very nervous Billy Keikeya started down himself.

"My name is Aaron Doral," the young man replied offering his hand. "I'm with Public Relations I'd like to welcome you aboard the _Galactica._"

"It's a pleasure to be here," Laura answered shaking the offered hand as Billy reached the bottom of the ladder. "This is my aide Billy Keikeya."

"A pleasure," Doral said nodding to Billy.

"Likewise, Mr Doral," Billy answered with a nod of his own.

"If you will please follow me, I'll show you to somewhere where you can rest and freshen up until the decommissioning ceremony is ready to begin," Doral said with a pleasant smile that didn't quit reach his eyes.

"That would be very nice, it has been a long flight at sublight speed," Laura replied. Doral nodded and started walking away, Laura and Billy followed a few paces behind him, with the two security agents assigned to protect the secretary of education following along a few paces behind them.

Walking down the corridors Laura couldn't help but notice how grim they looked, dull composite metal panels inset with light strips and the occasionally oxygen recycler. The colour was either grey, dark blue or black. There was a sense of grim purpose to them that seemed to fit this older ship, _Galactica_ belonged to a different era, an era when there had been a constant fear that war with the Cylons could break out again any day, she lacked the brightness of later generation Guardian and Mercury class ships. Aesthetics had been very much a secondary concern in the first two generations of Guardian-class battlestars.

For a few moments she considered recommending that during the refit they do something about the colour scheme of the ship. Change it to something brighter, more modern and aesthetically pleasing, but after a moment she decided against it. The whole idea of turning this ship into an orbiting museum was so that the generation of children growing up now on Caprica and the other colonies and the generations that followed them understood their history, and the ships their ancestors had fought so hard in against the mechanical terror of the Cylons.

So she would make sure they let the _Galactica_ be as she was, and change as little as possible, as it would make history that little bit more real, more meaningful to a generation that was growing increasingly disconnected from the events of their own past.

* * *

Gianne Franklin nervously descended another ladder into the _Galactica_, she had never been on a warship before and had absolutely no idea what to expect. As she reached the bottom of the steps she saw a man in his mid to late sixties waiting for her, and even before she saw the commander's insignia on his collar she knew that it was Commander William Adama. She could see in his face things that reminded her of Lee, especially his clear, highly intelligent blue eyes.

"Gianne," William asked hiding his nerves as best as he was able. He had only ever seen a picture of Lee's fiancé, and it didn't do her justice. Gianne was a very beautiful young woman, with kind features and shoulder length blond hair that was swept back into a ponytail that cascaded down her shoulders. He had no doubt that she had had a lot of hot blooded young men after her in her time.

"Commander Adama," Gianne replied. "Or should I call you, dad?"

William shook his head. "Not yet you have to marry my son first," he answered with a faint spark of humour in his eyes. He recognised her words as an icebreaking tactic, to break the initial tension of meeting each other for the very first time. "How about you just call me William for now, or Bill for short if you wish," he said.

Gianne smiled slightly. "Okay, Bill it is then," she replied. "Though speaking of Lee is he aboard yet?"

"Yes, though I haven't seen him. At the moment he'll be with Ripper."

"Ripper?"

"My CAG Major Spencer Jackson," William explained.

"And Ripper's his call sign, just like Lee's is Apollo," Gianne guessed then shook her head. "That's one thing I've never understood is how Lee got the name of one of the gods as his call sign."

"It wasn't his idea he got lumbered with it by his flight instructor. And once you get a call sign you don't shake it off no matter how much you hate it."

Gianne chuckled slightly picturing the look of embarrassment on the face of Cadet Lee Adama as he got lumbered with the call sign Apollo. William looked at her in confusion.

"Is something wrong," he asked.

"No it's just, I can just see the look on Lee's face when he got lumbered with that call sign," Gianne replied before degenerating into wholesale laughter. William thought about it, as he hadn't been there at the time, and unable to help himself he started to snicker then laugh himself. Something that startled passing crew as they rarely heard William Adama laugh or show any emotion at all.

After a few moments the two of them brought themselves under control. "My quarters are this way," William said. "I've told Ripper to inform me the moment Lee leaves his office then I can get him summoned to my quarters. He won't come otherwise."

"Well we will have to see what can be done about that," Gianne said sliding her arm into the loop William formed with his left arm. "The current state of affairs between the two of you cannot continue." _Especially as I want our baby to know his or her grandfather,_ she thought thinking of the little surprise that she had to spring upon Lee.

"I know," William replied softly as they started walking down the corridors and hallways of the _Galactica_ towards his quarters. He knew Gianne was right and part of him desperately wanted to rebuild his relationship with his oldest son, a son he readily acknowledged he had not been the best father to.

The truth be told he hadn't been much of a father to either of his sons and Lee's anger and grief filled words at their last meeting still rang in his head, even after two years. Words that indicated Zack would still be alive if he hadn't implied that he would not be a man if he didn't wear the wings of a Viper pilot. A statement that he guiltily acknowledged was at least partially correct.

"I know," he repeated more to himself as he guided his future daughter-in-law through the corridors of his ship, to a meeting that he knew would be emotionally charged but one he hoped would be a healing one. He supposed only time would tell exactly what would happen next.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

**Battlestar Galactica**

**Half Hour Later**

Captain Lee Adama walked down the corridors and passageways of the _Galactica_ with an unhappy scowl on his face. The moment he had been dreading from the instant he had gotten the orders to report to the _Galactica_ for the decommissioning ceremonies had arrived. He had just finished his meeting with Ripper when he'd been paged to report to the commander's quarters.

He was not looking forward to it, especially given what had happened the last time he'd spoken to his father just after Zack's funeral. Though he didn't want to admit it – even to himself – there was a part of him that had missed his father and realised that he had been letting grief speak. But the rest of him still blamed William Adama for the death of his younger sibling, even though wearing a Colonial uniform and training to be a Viper pilot had ultimately been Zack's choice – albeit one that he'd felt he'd had no choice but to make if he wanted to please his father.

Something that never ceased to anger Lee whenever he thought about it; as he knew that Zack hadn't really wanted anything to do with either Colonial Fleet or the Colonial Marine Corps; instead Zack had wanted to follow their grandfather's example and go to law school, which had been the cause of much tension in the Adama household when they were growing up.

With effort Lee put aside his emotions, he would have to be civil to his father at least; hopefully he would be able to steer clear of anything family related and keep this strictly professional.

Arriving outside his father's quarters he took a deep breath to steady his nerves before knocking on the hatch. The moment his hand hit the door it opened, clearly it wasn't on its latch or even properly in the frame. Mildly surprised that the door had not been closed properly Lee made his way inside.

The first thing that struck him was how much like his childhood home the decoration was, with dark wooden tables and a huge desk that he knew had once been his grandfathers. Sitting on its top was a standard computer terminal which looked bizarrely out of place on the antique desk and with the rows of leather bound books on the shelves Dotted around the room were a number of comfortable chairs, and on the far wall was the bunk.

Lee walked deeper into the room searching for any sign of his father, but he wasn't here. Despite himself he began to get a little concerned.

"Hello," he called out. "Is anybody here? Hello."

It was at that moment that a pair of hands reached around from behind him and went over his eyes. A very familiar pair of hands, the hands of the person who meant the whole world to him having stolen his heart the second they'd met.

"Guess who," her beautiful voice said.

"Gianne," he answered grinning. The hands were withdrawn and he turned in place and found himself face to face with his fiancée, her presence here was a surprise but a very welcome one.

"Surprise," Gianne said grinning. Lee smiled back and put his arms around his fiancée and drew her into an embrace and kissing her deeply. Gianne deepened the kiss and hugged Lee back, though they'd only been separate for a month by Lee's commitments as a member of Colonial Fleet she'd missed him intensely. Feeling his strong arms around her again made this whole trip out to the _Galactica_ worthwhile.

After a few timeless moments Lee pulled back, curiosity in his eyes. "It's good to see you," he said. "How did you…"

"Get here," Gianne finished before bracing herself for a possible bad reaction from Lee for what she was about to say next. "I was invited here by your father, he arranged for me to get a VIP ticket to the decommissioning ceremony."

"He invited you," Lee repeated in disbelief wondering how in the name of the Gods his father had known about Gianne. He'd met her after Zack's death and as far as he knew Gianne had never met William Adama.

Gianne nodded. "It came as a surprise to me as well," she admitted, "When he contacted me, I didn't realise he knew about us."

"It would be easy enough for him to find out," Lee answered. "A quick search of personnel files would reveal that we're engaged to be married. Though I am surprised he asked you to come considering that…"

"…that the two of you haven't spoken to each other since Zack died," Gianne finished for him. "It's been two years, Lee. It's time this stopped, this distance between you, and its time to heal the wounds."

"How can you ask me that? He killed my brother as surely as if he shot him," Lee replied hotly.

"Did he? Or is that what you've convinced yourself because it's the only way you can deal with your grief and anger at Zack's death." Lee didn't reply, instead he looked down and Gianne knew she had him, knew that she was right. Like anyone would be Lee had been angry at his sibling's senseless death, he'd lashed out in his grief and pain and found a target in his father.

"I…" Lee started to say then stopped not sure how to continue.

"I don't blame you for being angry with your father but isn't it time to let it go? Ask yourself what would Zack want? Would he want you to ignore your father the way you have been?"

Lee took a deep breath and let it out slowly, shakily. "No," he said with certainty.

"Then let it go. Your father has likely been as hurt as you were by Zack's death. Give him a chance, for me and for Zack."

"I…" Lee started to say then took another deep, shaky breath. "I don't know if I can."

"All I ask is you try," Gianne replied putting her hands on Lee's shoulders. Lee tilted his head to rest on her right hand.

"Alright," he said softly, so softly she almost couldn't hear him. "I'll do it for you and for Zack."

Gianne smiled and was about to reply when there was a deep, rumbling boom and the entire ship lurched hard to port sending them and all the loose furniture tumbling as the port bulkhead swung forty five degrees to become the floor. For a few seconds the _Galactica_ hovered on her side before rightening herself with a groan of stressed metal.

"What the frak," Lee said. "Gianne are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Gianne replied gasping from where the wind had been knocked out of her. _The baby, oh gods I hope the baby is okay,_ she thought. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Lee answered getting to his feet a millisecond before the _Galactica_ shuddered again and a dull thump echoed through the hull, a sound and motion that Lee recognised. They were under fire. "We're under attack," he said as he helped Gianne get back to her feet.

No sooner than he had spoken than an alarm klaxon began wailing throughout the battlestar. "Action stations, action stations, set condition one throughout the ship this is not a drill," an unfamiliar male voice said even as more blasts impacted the _Galactica_. "Repeat action stations, action stations, set condition one throughout the ship this is not a drill."

"I've got to get back down to the flight pods," Lee said the warrior in him coming to the fore even as a more violent jolt shook the ship, a shock that he knew was consistent with a missile hit as opposed to a plasma bolt. "I need to get out there and help defend the ship from whoever is firing at us."

Gianne nodded her expression fearful as the ship shuddered under fresh hits. "Where should I go," she asked.

"You can come with me to CIC," a gruff male voice said from behind her. Spinning around Gianne and Lee found themselves face to face with Commander William Adama. The older man looked winded and battered obviously having been slammed into a bulkhead like everyone else during the massive first hit.

"You'll be safe there," William continued. "At least as safe as you can be anywhere on a ship under fire."

"He's right, the CIC is deep in the core of the forward hull," Lee agreed. "You'll be safe there from all bar a mortal blow." Gianne nodded and stepped out into the corridor with her future father in law even as another blow shook the ship. "Dad," Lee called out and for a moment the warrior gave way to the concerned fiancée. "Take care of her."

"I will," William Adama replied. "This way, Gianne," he said before walking away.

"Be careful out there, Lee," Gianne said.

"I will," Lee answered. "Now go quickly." Gianne nodded and headed down the corridor after the older Adama male.

Stepping out into the corridor himself, Lee watched her go before turning and running back in the direction he had just come from even as more explosions against the hull shook the _Galactica_. _Who the frak is firing at us,_ he thought as he ran working hard to keep his footing through the shaking and disruptions to the ships gravitational stability. _Whoever it is I'm soon going to know,_ he thought, _right before I kick there asses._

**

* * *

**

House of Gaius Baltar

**Kings Bay Inlet, Caprica**

**A Short Time Earlier**

Consciousness returned abruptly to Gaius Baltar as something, some sound jolted him awake. Blinking rapidly in the bright sunshine streaming in through the windows, he turned in the bed to look for Natasi.

She wasn't there.

Gaius frowned then shrugged as he sat up. Natasi was something of a light sleeper – he knew that from experience with her. So it was not unlikely that she's woken up before him, gotten up and left him to sleep. It wouldn't be the first time, no doubt he would either find her downstairs in the living room, or out on the patio either admiring the breathtaking view of the inlet or luxuriating in the hot tub.

Climbing out of bed, Gaius slipped on his slippers and his dressing gown before making his way down to the ground floor. An eerie silence pervaded his elegant, modern home the only sound being the faint sounds of the birds chirping away outside like they always did. It made him wonder what it was that had made a sound loud enough to rouse him from his sleep.

"Natasi," he called out dismissing the thought of whatever had roused him from his mind. "Natasi," he called again.

There was no reply.

Frowning in mild concern as it wasn't like her to ignore him, Gaius began looking around for his lover. But he found no sign of her and the patio was empty as well with the hot tub unoccupied as it bubbled away merrily oblivious to the cares of the world, he looked at it and decided he would make a nice appointment with it after he found Natasi. A soak in the hot tub was always and experience that was best shared.

"Natasi where are you," he called out again heading back inside as the breeze coming in off Kings Bay was cold on the bare parts of his skin. Still no answer came and his lovers continued silence made him that little bit more concerned.

Arriving in the kitchen Gaius found a note left on the breakfast bar, feeling it might at last give him some answers he picked it up and frowned. It was from Natasi and informed him that she had left important information on her desk at the ministry of defence and had gone back into Caprica City to get it. _What important information,_ he thought, _and why bother going all the way back into Caprica City to get it today? Surely it could wait until morning as no one but us can get into that office. We're not going to be able to go sailing out on the bay now like we planned, it will be to late by the time Natasi gets back from the city – and that's if she doesn't run headlong into the afternoon traffic._

Muttering to himself about women and mixed up priorities Gaius put the note down and went to make himself a cup of coffee. It looked like he was going to be on his own for a couple of hours so he was going to have to find something to do, but first things first he needed coffee to fully get back with the world.

He was just about to switch the coffee machine on when he began to feel a strange vibration, it started small but in mere seconds the whole house was vibrating. _What in the world,_ he thought, _this cant be an earthquake, there's no fault lines anywhere near here._

At that moment a fireball shot across the sky from somewhere behind the house. The shockwave of its passage smashed the windows forcing Gaius to duck down behind the counter to avoid getting cut to shreds by razor sharp crystalline shards. The rain of glass fragments ceased as quickly as it started, and he cautiously looked up over the side of the worktop.

Just in time to see the fireball impact the beyond the ridge that separated the planes that housed Caprica City from the Kings Bay inlet. There was a brilliant flash of light as whatever it was impacted the ground into a multi-megaton impact. An immense cloud of dust and ash immediately vomited skyward from the point of impact, yet paradoxically there was no sound, no roar of the tremendous explosion, only an eerie silence.

For a moment out of time the calm remained.

Then a monstrous wind blasted across the countryside from the impact point, accompanied by a violent rumbling earthquake as the seismic shockwave of the impact shot through the earth at the speed of sound. The house bucked upwards, tossing Gaius Baltar helpless and terrified into the air before crashing back down with bone jarring impact. The house continued shaking, twisting on its foundations the sounds of falling furniture and snapping metal adding to the din of the quake.

"What the frak was that," Gaius asked aloud sitting up and shaking with the after-effects of the adrenaline rush. "A rogue asteroid but how would that penetrate the defence net," he continued aware that he was speaking to himself but not caring, it was easing his shattered nerves.

Awkwardly sitting up, ignoring his throbbing back he looked in the direction of the impact. But could see nothing beyond a massive cloud of dark smoke, he could only imagine the hell that impact had just unleashed on Caprica City. Though it looked to have hit to the east of the city he knew that the shockwave and thermal blast from the impact would have struck the capital with apocalyptic force causing horrendous damage.

"My gods," he said softly horrified as he considered how many people would be dead, dying of seriously injured in Caprica City. One in particular immediately jumped to his thoughts. "Natasi."

Spinning around Gaius raced outside, not caring that he was only in his dressing gown and slippers. He had to get in his car now and get to the city to find her and to render any help that he could, fortunately he kept a change of clothes in the car so he would look somewhat presentable.

He was just getting out of his wreckage of his house when another shockwave of air washed over him from behind, and three more fireballs shot across the sky to impact beyond the ridge. Two more followed all following the same flight path, and with a jolt of horror Gaius realised that this was no asteroid shower.

Caprica was under attack, someone was firing mass driver rounds at them from space. It was a horrifying realisation. _Who, who is attacking us,_ he thought, _it cant be the Cylons can it, not after all this time._

He didn't have much time to think about it, for at that moment the air blasts of the impacts arrived. The hurricane force winds picked him up like a toy and threw him through the air like a human missile. Vaguely he felt himself plummeting back down to Earth again as the force of the wind died down, and for the first time in his life he prayed, prayed to the Lords of Kobol for protection.

Amazing they must have answered because darkness enveloped him and carried him away into the bliss of unconsciousness so he never felt the impact with the ground.

**

* * *

**

Battlestar Galactica

**That Same Time**

Commander William Adama hurried into CIC with Gianne Franklin only a few paces behind him. They walked into a scene of total chaos, as the crew fought to recover from the shocking suddenness of the attack and start fighting back.

"Sit rep," William ordered as he hurried to the main dradis console/map table in the centre of CIC, staggering slightly as more the shockwaves of additional hits made their presence known.

"The task force is taking fire from five capital scale ships, sir," Lieutenant Gaeta reported from tactical as he struggled. "Enemy vessels are of unknown configuration however weapons signatures conform to Cylon plasma cannons but they're much more powerful than indicated in our records."

"Frakking toasters have broken the armistice," Tigh growled from the opposite site of the dradis table. "This must be part of an all out attack."

"We don't have time to worry about that now," William answered. "Tactical status?"

"Plasma cannons and forward plasma lasers are still charging," Gaeta reported. "All missile batteries are armed and ready to fire. All defensive railgun arrays are engaged against Cylon missiles." His console bleeped as dradis picked up new contacts, a lot of them coming from the biggest Cylon ship, a ship that could only be the modern descendant of the dreaded Cylon basestar. "Cylon basestar launching Raiders, dradis reads three hundred fighter sized craft."

"Launch Vipers," William ordered. "Target missiles on the closest Cylon capital ship and open fire."

"Yes sir," Gaeta replied before relaying the orders to the weapons control stations spread out throughout the ship.

* * *

From missile batteries all along the length of its main hull the _Galactica_ came alive, hurling missile after missile into space. Trailing propellant the storm of projectiles headed towards the closest of the four Cylon cruisers screening the basestar. Floating by the side of the _Galactica_ the cruiser followed her example launching a massive salvo of its own missiles towards the same ship.

Immediately the Cylon cruiser began firing its defensive laser pulse arrays at the missiles homing in on it; pulses of super-focused energy struck with incredible accuracy turning missile after missile into plumes of vaporised metal. But the sheer volume of projectiles made it almost impossible for the Cylons to shoot them all down.

Dozens of missiles both kinetic and nuclear exploded against the cruisers refractive armour setting it ablaze with light as it struggled to deflect the immense amounts of thermal and kinetic energy back out into space. Bright purple plasma bolts flew back from the cruiser in retaliation pelting the battlestar making her own refractive armour glow with diffusion.

* * *

Captain Lee Adama grunted slightly as gee forces pulled at his body as the electromagnetic catapult hurled his Viper down one of the _Galactica's_ launch tubes. The walls of the tube flew past at incredible speed – so much so that he couldn't make out any of the features of the tubes walls at all.

In milliseconds the walls of the cannon like tube gave way to the blackness of space. Immediately Lee pulled up to join the rest of the Vipers shooting out of both flight pods. Even as he did so he scanned the horizon and his dradis displays in the multitasking abilities that all pilots had to master.

Space immediately around him was alive with activity, crowded with ships, fighters, missiles and plasma bolts. The _Galactica_ and her escort group were under heavy missile and plasma fire from five ships, one was an absolutely monstrous ship shaped like two Y's pointing in opposite directions which gave it a distinctive star-like shape. It was at least as big across as a Mercury-class battlestar and was nearly as tall as the _Galactica_ was long. From hundreds of points on its hull emerged missiles both nuclear and kinetic and brilliant purple-blue plasma blasts. Blasts that were currently pounding one of the two Vigilance-class cruisers and two of the Berserker-class destroyers that formed a sizeable chunk of the battlestars escort/support group, and steadily tearing away at their armour overloading it so the molecular cohesion of the refractive material started breaking down. Though things weren't going entirely the basestars way – as missiles and reddish orange bolts of plasma flew back from the smaller Colonial warships in retaliation pelting its own armour.

Four smaller warships hung near the giant ship, though small was only a relative term. Each ship was shaped like a split blade knife – and was at least two thirds the length of the _Galactica_. Missiles and plasma was also spewing from them in a ceaseless barrage that would tear the battle group apart in short order. And to make matters worse a literal swarm of scimitar shaped fighters was coming towards them with the silent deadliness of an avalanche, an avalanche that was about to bury them in plasma.

"Lords of Kobol help us," one of the other pilots said softly. "It's the frakking toasters."

"Cut the chatter, Jolly," Ripper's voice snapped over the squadron command frequency. "All Vipers move to engage those Raiders. Apollo form up with Racetrack and Starbuck."

"Yes sir," Lee replied before heading for the Vipers that his IFF board tagged as being the ones flown by Racetrack – a pilot he didn't know – and Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace someone he knew oh to well as she had almost become his sister in law.

"Hey Lee long time no see," Starbuck's voice said.

"Indeed but now is not the time for a reunion, Kara," Lee pointed out. "Not when we got some Raiders to shoot from the sky."

"Good point, Apollo. Let's get 'um," Starbuck agreed just as the Raiders entered weapons range and immediately opened fire, sending a storm of blue laser pulses through space towards them.

Two Vipers exploded as they took hits full on, the intense energy pulses burned through them to detonate their fuel cells instantly turning the fighters into plumes of vaporised metal. Mercifully their pilots never had a chance to process what was happening let alone scream. Lee growled softly in anger at the deaths of two of his comrades in arms, though he didn't personally know them, without even realising it he pulled the trigger on his stick. Sending a burst of eight mini-meter railgun shells flying towards the Raiders.

The other Vipers followed his example and sent a storm of solid kinetic railgun shells towards the Cylon Raiders. Three Raiders took hits and shattered like brittle glass before exploding as the solid rounds travelling at extreme speed literally tore them apart. Then the two groups of fighter craft slammed into each other and the battle between them began descending into a total free for all space brawl.

**

* * *

**

Combat Information Centre

**Battlestar Galactica**

The shockwave of another kinetic missile hit on the hull rippled through the command centre making the crew crab at their consoles to avoid being pitched to the deck.

"Main plasma cannons and plasma lasers are online, sir," Gaeta reported.

"Lock on target," William ordered. "Time on target with all forward weapons arrays."

"Time on target, yes sir," Gaeta replied before relaying the orders to the weapons control stations. A second before more plasma bolts impacted the hull, sending further shudders through the ship. Lights appeared on his panel as the two weapons control rooms for the forward guns signalled that they were ready. "Ready sir."

"Fire."

* * *

For the first time since the engagement began the _Galactica's_ forward weapons arrays opened up, adding to the fury of her missile batteries. From the two plasma laser cannons built into the bow birthed two dense reddish orange beams of destructive power.

The beams burned their way across space and slammed into the flank of the closest Cylon cruiser. Refractive armour already compromised by missiles and plasma fire from the _Medusa_ boiled and disintegrated under the fury of the beams. The tough metal alloy of the hull beneath the armour melted and the beams cut their way deep into the interior of the cruiser setting off destructive explosions throughout the ship.

The plasma lasers shut down but the damage was already done. The Cylon cruiser spun helplessly as superheated gasses burst through the deep gashes ripped in its flank. A salvo of nuclear missiles converged on the wounded cruiser - the heat seeking warheads attracted by emissions of heat from the wounded hull - and flew in through the gaps in the hull. Acrid blue white light flared inside the cruiser before it split in half, and disintegrated in a fireball.

Even as the glare of the cruisers death explosion faded large reddish orange bolts from the _Galactica's _main plasma cannons flew through the debris field to slam into the tip of one of the dorsal radial arms of the Cylon basestar, eliciting flares of diffusion from the basestars armour and shaking the ship.

Kinetic missiles streaked in on the tails of the plasma bolts, slamming into the hull with white hot force shattering and rupturing the thin armour at the tip of the radial arm, setting off secondary explosions along the outer third of the arm. Even as the basestar rocked under the attack, it struck back sending a stream of purple-white plasma bolts back at the basestar.

The _Galactica's_ plasma lasers lashed out again, slamming twin beams into the already damaged radial arm. Ruptured refractive armour melted and buckled allowing the beams to cut right through the outer armour band and into the hull metal beneath heating it up but not breaching it. The massive Cylon ship shuddered even more violently under the blow, even as two more kinetic missiles came in and slammed into the ruptured section one after another. The first missile breached the hull opening the interior of the basestar to space, the second flew in through the breached hull, clipping the edge of the breach the missile spun into the interior of the ship and ricocheted around spreading destruction further in towards the core, before slicing through the deuterium storage tank for the radial arms Raider bay, rupturing it and triggering a massive explosion as the sparks from damaged power lines ignited the venting gas.

The explosion tore through the arm, ripping its structural integrity apart. The arm snapped off trailing gas fed flames, even as secondary explosions rippled across the entire dorsal Y section of the basestar as overloading power conduits blew out.

**

* * *

**

Combat Information Centre

**Battlestar Galactica**

"One of our missiles must have hit something vital on the basestar," Gaeta reported as the sensors that supplemented the dradis system reported massive detonations on the basestar. "Reading multiple detonations along the dorsal hull. They basestar has ceased firing." A change on the screen brought a smile to his face. "Basestar is pulling back, their FTL drive is spooling up."

"Their running," Tigh said with a green.

"The basestar is at least," William agreed as the icon on the dradis display that represented the basestar rippled with the electronic haze of a hyperlight jump field forming, before vanishing from the screen, instantly teleporting itself to some other point in space. The three surviving Cylon cruisers remained in position continuing to rain missiles and plasma down upon the _Galactica_ and her escort squadron.

Even as he watched one of the green icons – the one representing the destroyer _Cerberus_ disappeared from the display in a blaze of radiation indicating that its refractive armour had been overload and the last Cylon fusion missile had sent her to her doom.

"We just lost the _Cerberus,_" Gaeta reported. "The destroyer _Marathon_ is reporting heavy hull damage and that they've lost their starboard plasma cannons."

"Status of Cylon forces," William asked silently cursing the Cylons for the hundreds of people who had just died with the _Cerberus_.

"All three Cylon cruisers have sustained considerable damage to their armour," Gaeta reported. "But are continuing to fight. Raider squadrons are giving our Vipers some problems, our fighters are outgunned three to one. Sir Reaper's fighter has just been destroyed, Apollo is taking charge."

"Then lets try and take some pressure off them," William said. "Direct secondary plasma arrays to target the Cylon Raiders."

"Yes sir."

"Navigation bring us around three degree's to starboard," William ordered. "Forward guns target the Cylon cruiser bearing zero three four karem three four."

"Yes sir."

Within seconds a slight shiver in the artificial gravity field informed those in the know about such things that the battlestar was starting to swing to starboard to bring her powerful bow guns to bear on the enemy. It was at that moment the one of the Cylon cruisers vanished in a radiation haze as a pair of nukes and half a dozen kinetic missiles from the _Medusa_ overwhelmed its defences to rip it apart.

"Sir remaining Cylon cruisers and the Raiders are spooling up their FTL drives," Gaeta reported.

"The Raiders have FTL capability," William Adama asked incredulous, as far as he knew it was impossible to shrink a hyperlight drive down enough to fit on something as small as a fighter. _Impossible for us,_ he thought, _but obviously not for the Cylons._

Looking up at the dradis screen he watched as almost in unison all the angry red enemy contacts rippled with jump haze before vanishing, presumably falling back to wherever the basestar had gone.

The engagement was over.

As the last Cylon ship disappeared a palpable sense of relief settled on the crew in CIC and presumably throughout the small group of Colonial ships.

"Thank the Gods that's over," Gianne Franklin said softly from where she had been watching quietly. She had never imagined that real combat could be so nerve-wrecking or so terrifying, it was nothing like what was shown on entertainment videos.

"For now, Gianne," William told his soon to be daughter-in-law. "But I don't think this is going to be the end of it. Dee?"

"Yes sir?" Lieutenant Dualla answered.

"Signal all Vipers to return to the ship. Contact Fleet Command, advise them of what just happened here."

"Yes sir," Dee replied.

William turned to look over at Gianne. "I know you'll want to see, Lee now," he said. Gianne nodded desperate to hold her fiancée and make sure that he was alright. William smiled softly. "Then I'll take you down there, follow me. Colonel Tigh you have the conn."

"Okay, Bill," Tigh replied a little surprised that his friend would be leaving CIC so soon after a battle with a young woman who obviously had something to do with Lee Adama. _Must be Lee's wife or his fiancée,_ he thought.

William Adama formed a loop with his left arm and Gianne slid a hand through. They were about to leave CIC when Dee spoke up, her voice filled with such shock, horror and anger that it brought them up soon.

"Commander we're getting an emergency signal from Picon," Dee reported. "They report that they are under attack, the Cylons have broken through the planetary defence grid and are bombarding the planet with mass drivers."

"Oh my Gods," William said going pale knowing what the effects of mass drivers would be on the surface of Picon, not only would they kill millions but they would pump so much debris up into the stratosphere that the planet would be plunged into a mini ice age that would render it almost uninhabitable for decades.

"That's not all sir, I'm picking up additional signals that indicate that the same scene is playing out everywhere."

"You mean," William started to say as a horrified gasp ran around CIC.

"Yes sir," Dee replied her voice shaking. "The Colonies – all of them – are being bombed with mass drivers. The Cylons are wiping us out."


End file.
